Verhnesinyachihinsky Metallurgical Plant, Sverdlovsk

Verhnesinyachihinsky Metallurgical Plant

Metallurgical plant in the village of Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha (Верхнесинячихинский металлургический завод ВСМЗ) was founded in 1769 by owner of Alapayevsk ironworks S.Y. Yakovlev and belongs among the oldest mills in Russia.

First hammer mill powered by local river Sinyachikha was launched in 1770, charcoal kiln with puddling furnace were put in operation two years later. Stagnation of industry in the beginning of 18th caused temporary shutdown though. The mill was restarted in 1850, the puddling furnaces were modernized and new water turbines with pair of steam engines were installed at the same time. Three rolling mills were put in operation during the 90´s of the 19th century, over 745 workers were employed here in that time.

The economic crisis of 1900-1903 hits Ural region as well. By 1904 the blast furnace was active only 108 days and number of employees decreased dramatically to 176 only. The situation stabilized after 1908 and the plant went through major reconstruction. Old puddling furnaces were replaced by modern siemens-martin furnaces with capacity of 185 m3 and second blast furnace was built in 1912. With the beginning of the First World War ironworks prospered, however with new civil war in 1918 the production stopped again.

Several years after former workers came with initiative to restart the production with support of Alapayevsk mining company. Transport of raw material was now provided by regional narrow-gauge railway built in 1925. In the same period new open-herath furnace with a capacity of 45 tons was commissioned.

For Second World War purposes the blast furnace was relined in 1941 for phosphorus ore melting, an important component of desired Molotov cocktails. Since most workers were called to the war front, work was temporarily held by women and teenagers.

In 1952 the plant went through major renovation. Blast furnace was modernized to current shape and volume of 239 m3. In the 60´s the production of pig iron was slowly replaced by bauxite ore processing from Severouralsk mine.

Within Perestroika program the plant was detached from Alapayevsk combine finally, steel making shop was closed down and the production focused on corundum and titanium metallurgical processing. Nevertheless and despite of all efforts made to resist the growing competition from Asian countries, Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha plant bankrupted in 2002 and never recovered again.